Tag Archive | "business"

Internet giant Amazon is hiring 1500 people from Bradley County and Chattanooga Tennessee. The internet retailer settled on the Chattanooga area for two distribution sites and has offered jobs to approximately 1500 locals from Bradley County and Chattanooga. Applicants from several local counties have lined up to apply for the open positions. Construction began in 2010 and Amazon was eager to complete construction to be ready for the holiday season in 2011.

Amazon began a fast track to ramp up the new distribution centers and has received more than 6000 applications to date. Local officials say the hiring effort is the quickest undertaken by a company doing business here. Amazon began taking applications for the bulk of its work force in mid-May.

The new distribution centers in Hamilton and Bradley counties are breathing a new spirit into the area.The centers can help to provide jobs to almost 10 percent of the unemployed workers in those counties. With the economy what it has been nationally, a boost ofapproximately 1500 jobs will give the local economy a shot in the arm. That is a huge relief to the areas local families as well as the economic developmentof the area.

The local Community College is playing a role by being the place for Amazon.com to hold the five week long interview process at Chattanooga State Community College. The college was able to offer additional services such as security and food for which it was compensated by Amazon. Chattanooga State’s plans to offer a complete solution that includes personnel training that will likely begin next year. Chattanooga States’ aim is to offer “a turnkey solution”to businesses.

Amazon is investing about $139 million dollars in both centers and plan to employ 1,600 full time people and as many as 2,000 part timers, which according to Amazon, the first group will begin work this month. This is an incredible boost to the local economy says local leaders. The Bradley County center is scheduled to open immediately and the Chattanooga center soon afterwards.

Amazon has stated that the local support for the project has been very helpful to the company. Amazon has said most of the new hires will start at more than $10 anhour. For permanent employees, Amazon offers variable cash pay for performance and some restricted shares. For Amazon, this means new and excited workers grateful to be employed and for Chattanooga and Bradley County, it means a welcome influx of cash and ancillary revenue.

This week the state of California approved a new bill which will likely become a law that strives to achieve something that no other laws have done. The bill is the first of its kind in that it allows companies to be socially responsible regardless of what shareholders say or vote on. Previously shareholders controlled and could influence nearly any major corporation’s decision and legally the company was obligated to follow that vote but this new law will change all of that.

The so called social responsibility law is exactly what it sounds like; it is giving the power to companies to become socially responsible regardless of shareholder opinions. The idea is that it will convince companies to act in manners that benefit or help society and the environment even if it might mean slight losses for the company’s profit margin. Obviously this was often avoided before because shareholders cared much more about making money but now that they have been removed from the picture legally it is entirely up to the company itself.

No word on when exactly the law will be officially instated or completed but many are hopeful that it will in fact make a difference in terms of social responsibility. As always only time will tell if other states are going to follow suit but for now it is simply good to see that one major state in the United States has stepped up to the plate to allow socially responsible companies to prosper.

Earlier this week a billionaire businessman, Peter Thiel, announced his selections for what he called his first group of prize winners in a unique and interesting fellowship award contest. Thiel is the billionaire founder responsible for Paypal and ever since he started the project he has been looking for other possible money making ideas; this is exactly where he got the inspiration for the fellowship.

Thiel’s idea was to select a group of 12 bright and motivated teenagers that had just graduated from high school and offer then $100,000 to invest in an idea they came up with rather than going to college. Thiel believed that simply working with a good business idea would likely be more successful for many of these individuals than wasting time in college.

So far none of the award recipients have spoken much about their planned ideas though Thiel and his team believe many of them could be incredibly successful. The purpose behind the fellowship was not only to help young bright entrepreneurs build a successful business but also to show people that a college degree is not necessarily important for many quick thinking potential business owners.

If within 2 years any of these entrepreneurs are successfully running their project Thiel will be giving them continued support and investments; regardless of success Thiel says he will be teaching all of these bright young entrepreneurs a very valuable lesson about entering a market and attempting to build a business out of just an idea.

The United States economic situation has been recovering slowly according to many analysts but today a report released by Intuit indicates that one specific part of the private sector seems to be leading much of that recovery. According to analysts jobs overall have been increasing in nearly all parts of the United States but recently small businesses have been making the biggest difference.

Due to the economic downturn many companies and businesses were forced to let go many employees to save money; the fact that small businesses are hiring once again is a very good sign according to leading analysts. Small businesses, particularly those with under 20 people, have been hiring at nearly double the rate they had been before which means they are surely seeing some sort of recovery from the economic downturn.

According to the study small businesses have increased their number of jobs by approximately 1% which is an astonishing number according to analysts. Even a fraction of a percentage increase would be a significant jump according to economic analysts from all around the US but the fact that the number of jobs available increased 1% in a year means the economic growth is expanding to small businesses quite rapidly.

Along with this increase of jobs these small businesses are also reportedly spending more money; all of these factors combine indicate that the economic growth is solid and consistent which is very promising for the United States and worldwide economic recovery efforts.

Not more than a decade ago Silicon Valley was considered to be the heart of the technology based industry; recently however things have been changing and as a result many companies around the United States have started to see some benefit. Recently cities such as New York have become hotspots for technology startups and many analysts say this is a good thing for everyone involved.

According to many technology and news reports New York City alone is responsible for numerous new technology companies worth well over a few billion dollars. This is an astonishing feat for the city given how short of a time period the entire transition has required.

Fortunately for many technology entrepreneurs this is great news regardless of where they are located; many investment companies have begun to once again expand their horizons on technology investments and as a result companies from all over the country are seeing a steady increase in cash flow.

Analysts say this is also a good sign when it comes to the economic recovery of the United States. As investors and banks begin to trust these new or somewhat new technology companies in various cities significant amounts of money begin to flow into small economic sectors which had previously dried up. Of course this is not a sure sign that the economy is recovering though analysts basically agree that this is a very good sign of things to come for the technology industry as well as other private industrial markets.